Claw Tribe Barbarian 2.0
Hero is not yet released and subject to change Born of fire and hardship, Claw Tribe Barbarians live within the gnarled forests that dot the valleys of the Dragonback Peaks. Predations from the monsters are constant and the food provided by the fiery landscape is meager at best. It is no wonder that many take to wandering. Stats *'Type:' Human Hero *'Crystal Affinity: 'Citrine *'Abilities:' Berserk, Tough *'Unique Actions:' Rage *'Potions:' Fury's Blood *'Movement Points:' 6 *'Action Points:' 3 *'Strength:' 2R (Melee: 1) *'Armor:' 3B (Defense) *'Willpower:' 2B *'Dexterity: '''2B *'Hearts:' 5 *'Potion Quantity:' 1 '''Gameplay' Stats: The Barbarian has above average offense of 2R STR and average defense of 3B ARM that plunges to an abysmal 1B ARM when using Rage. She has a high number of attacks due to Berserk and Rage. Due to Rage, she can convert Movement into additional melee attacks. Berserk vs Rage: 'The Barbarian may make 4 basic melee attacks using Berserk or up to her Movement (6) melee attacks using Rage per activation. Part of playing the Barbarian effectively is knowing when to use Rage. Rage is most effective when the Barbarian starts her activation with monsters in range so she does not waste Move/Attacks getting in range. When deciding to use Rage, consider whether the additional attacks over Berserk will be worth the reduction in ARM and the Consul's ability to retaliate. Her ARM may still be increased by sources aside from Equipment such as Iron Halo. Increasing her Movement during her activation will also increase the potential number of attacks Rage can deal. If she has additional Action Points, these may also be used Dash, which can result in more melee attacks during Rage. Generally, as the Barbarian accrues additional movement or action points, Rage will typically outpace Berserk in effectiveness assuming there are sufficient enemy models in range. '''Potion: 'Fury's Blood may be used on the Barbarian or another hero to gain '''Deadly Defense. Heroes with high defense may punish the Consul for attacking the hero. It allows the Barbarian to discourage attacks against her after she engages, especially if she has increased her ARM, but it generally should not be used after she has used Rage as in most cases she will not have sufficient ARM to successfully trigger Deadly Defense against her attacker. As an emergency potion, it cannot be used during the heroes' turn to grant multiple heroes Backlash. With additional potion capacity, it may be used multiple times on the Consul's turn to do so. Strategy: The Barbarian is an offensive melee hero that can fulfill an AOE or Blaster role primarily through sheer number of attacks rather than using an AOE attack or buffing her offense. She has a few basic strategies. If no monsters are in range, she can move to engage and use Berserk for its additional attack. If monsters are already in range, she can Rage to get more attacks compared to Berserk. If she's the target of retaliation and did not Rage, she can use her potion to gain Deadly Defense, to discourage and punish attacks against her. As she lacks true AOE or self buffs, she is best at defeating weaker enemies that are spread out (typically to avoid AOE) or focusing multiple attacks on a single enemy. It is not uncommon for her to Rage beside a Spawn Point or Boss and move back and forth, dealing multiple attacks. The Consul must choose between avoiding the Barbarian, focusing her and risking Deadly Defense, and protecting spawn points. If not defeated, Tough helps keep her in the action on subsequent activations. Equipment/Buffs: '''STR improves her melee attacks granted by Berserk and Rage and often have more value on the Barbarian compared to other heroes due to her high number of attacks. Consider giving her Blue STR to allow her to roll Hearts as she has so many attacks per activation. ARM helps her survive to get in range to Rage and practically required for her trigger Deadly Defense attackers when she drinks Fury's Blood as her base defense is 3B (2 avg/6 max stars) and Critical Success requires a minimum of 5 stars. Rage reduces her ARM to 1B regardless of equipment, so she may need sources of +ARM aside from gear. Movement can increase the number of attacks she deals during Rage. Action Points can allow her to deal additional melee basic attacks or Dash for additional Rage attacks. Debuffs can allow her to debuff multiple, different targets during her activation, due to high number of attacks. Surefoot and Fly allow her to ignore most Tile effects, thus allowing Rage to retain effectiveness regardless of the terrain. Gear that grant additional unique actions may often find better mileage on other heroes unless they grant AOE attacks, which may be better than Berserk and Rage in certain situations. The Barbarian will typically never need DEX or WILL gear. '''Limitations: '''The Barbarian is especially vulnerable to status effects. Poison can prevent her from utilizing Rage unless she has additional action points. Slow, Knockdown, and Immobile can reduce the effectiveness of Rage or outright prevent her from using it. Bane is especially dangerous to her after Rage due to her reduced defense. Rage is rarely worth using against a monster with Predator as each movement triggers a Predator attack against her reduced ARM. She lacks any true AOE so she has difficulty directly wounding Elites in Arcade 2.0 until the Expendable minions are defeated. She lacks any engage skills, which makes her vulnerable to kiting and monsters may be positioned to reduce the effectiveness of her Rage. '''Party: '''The Barbarian shines in a party that has access to STR/Move Buffs and Bane to make the most of her Berserk & Rage. Teleport, Compel, and Push can help move her into position to immediately Rage. She may need Heal/Remedy/ARM Buff to prevent her Rage from being shutdown by debuffs or being defeated after Rage. Consider giving her Stealth to minimize the number of attacks that may target her in these situations. '''Barbarian FK vs 2.0: The Barbarian's potion is updated in 2.0 to provide Deadly Defense instead of Backlash. In most cases, this is considered a downgrade of the Barbarian's effectiveness, but very welcome for Consul players as Backlash made it very difficult for the Consul to focus high defense heroes without potentially losing a lot of monsters to poor rolls. In Arcade, heroes could pile defense on a single hero and manipulate wrath and spend potions to ensure the monsters were always attacking a high defense target with Backlash, greatly thinning an elite's minions during the Consul turn. With Deadly Defense, the defender must roll a Critical Success rather than just a Success, greatly reducing the odds that Deadly Defense will deal a wound compared to Backlash. As with Backlash and Fire, wounds dealt during the Consul's turn do not reward Loot if defeated (spawn points and monsters that reward treasure will still drop their rewards during Hero power-up). The advantage of Deadly Defense (as currently worded) is in Arcade where it can deal multiple wounds per monster activation whereas Backlash is limited to dealing a single wound per monster activation. See Also: Claw Tribe Barbarian Available Through Super Dungeon Explore: 2nd EditionCategory:Heroes __NOEDITSECTION__